Bergeron got the honor in large part for banging through this famous field goal to defeat Iowa, thirty years ago this fall in 1983:

These days Bergeron, 51, lives in Ft. Wayne with his wife & two kids and is a coach on the Snider High School football squad. I dialed up the U-M legend recently and chatted about that great photo, Bo, his famous kick and much more. The net of all this will appear later on, but in the short term a few interesting facts about that classic photo:

* SI tried several different photos, originally under one of the tall showers in Crisler Arena in an attempt to demonstrate Bergeron’s short stature. Yes, they also took a few regular shots of him kicking before settling on the hot tub pic—also shot in Crisler.

* The football, cleats and Ricky Leach poster were brought in as props. Interesting that the ‘Champions are made in practice’ sign was not brought in—it was a fixture in the hoops arena.

* Why the pizza? After Bergeron’s epic ‘83 kick vs. Iowa reporters joked with Bo, noting that his kicker wasn’t even on scholarship. Someone suggested that Schembechler, the owner of a Domino’s franchise, at least get him a pizza. Bo obliged:

* And did Bergeron actually get to eat the pizza used in that photo? “I did,” Bergeron told me with a laugh. “I took it home and shared it with my roommates, Don Bracken [a punter] and Mike Melnyk [a kicker].”